Reinforced end for box-cars



G. A lQHNSON. REINFORCED END FOR BOX CARS,

. APPLICATION FILED APR. 3. I919. 1,398,697.

Patented Nov. 29, 1921.

2SHEETSSHEET I.

Z0 I N VEN TO Gea ge EJZ/Zndm 7 IW 4 Z I lu.| 0 I J I YHHII I IIIIII I II q j v w Z Z S E: I I I IHHHHHHV I I I IH H UHI H H H HH I I I I I IWHI I I I I I IH U I IH I IHHI HH HH n H n L NJ N W WITNESSES:

G. A. JOHNSON. REINFORCED END FOR BOX CARS, APPLICATION FILED'APR. a.1919.

Patented Nov. 29, 1921. Hg

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

| I n u INVEN TOR. W1 TNESSES: GeorgeflJa/Emson ATTOR/ UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE A. JOHNSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 WILLIAM H. MINER,OF CHAZY, NEW YORK.

REINFORCED END FOR BOX-CARS.

' Application filed April 3,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnonen A. JoHNsoN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Reinforced Ends forBox-Cars, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawin s, forming apart of this specification.

his invention relates to improvements in reinforced ends for box cars.

As is well known, great difiiculty has been experienced heretofore bythe railroads in the operation of wood box cars due to the frequentbreaking out or splintering of the end walls due to shiftin of the loadwhile the cars are in transit. any thousands of wood box cars are inservice representing a great investment and many expedients have beenemployed to so reinforce the wood ends as to permit the continued use ofthe box cars in service.

The object of my invention is to provide means for'reinforcing the endwalls of wood box cars so that a minimum expense to the railroads isinvolved and in such manner as to prevent or minimize the breaking outof said end walls.

- More specifically, the object of my invention is to rovide anextremely rigid and strong rein orcement in the form of aframework whichmay be applied to the outer sides of ends of wood box cars at smallexpense and permit utilization of the inherent strength of the wood endwalls.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is anelevational View of the end of a wood box car showing my improvements inconnection therewith. Fig. 2 is a horizontal, sectional view, partlybroken away, taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1 upon an enlarged scale. Fig.3 is a vertical, sectional view, partly broken away, taken substantiallyon the line 33 of Fig. 1 and upon an enlarged scale. Fig. 4 is ahorizontal, sectional view upon an enlarged scale, taken on the line 44of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a perspective of one of the tie plates employedwith my construction.

In said drawings, the end wall of the box car is shown as formed withouter wood sheathing 10, vertical intermediate posts 11-11 and innerwood sheathing 12. The car, of course, employs the usual cornerSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 29, 1921.

1919. Serial No. 287,236.

wood posts and diagonal bracing which need not be detailed. The end sillis shown at 13 in F 3, the flooring at 1 1, the buffer block at 15, theend plate at 16, end fascia board at 1'7, roof at 18 and the foot boardsat 19.

In carrying out my invention, I preferably employ a pair of Z-barsindicated at 2020, although it will be evident that other forms ofcommercially shaped beams may also be employed. Two of such Z-bars 20are preterably used, the same being applied to the outer face of the endwall in alinement with the intermediate posts 11 as shown in Fig. 4.Said Z-bars 20 extend to the bottom 01 the end sill 13 and up to the endplate 16. At the top, the Z-bars 20 are rigidly tied together by a tieplate 21, the parts being preferably riveted as indicated at 2222. Saidtie plate 21 passes inside of the inner flanges of the Z-bars and hasits ends out wardly extended as indicated at 23 in Fig. 3, said endsbeing also riveted to the main webs of the Z-bars as indicated at 2 1.The plate 21 is bolted through to the end plate 16 in a number ofplaces, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 3.

At the lower end of the Z-bars 20, a corresponding tie plate 25 isemployed having outturned end flanges 26 riveted to the main webs of theZ-bars as indicated at 27, the plate 25 being riveted also to the innerflanges of the Z-bars as indicated at 28. The lower tie plate 25 isbolted through to the end sill 13 as indicated in Fig. 3.

As will be obvious, the tie plates 21 and 25 space the Z-bars 20 fromthe outer wood sheathing 10 a distance corresponding to the thickness ofthe plates 21 and 25 and to fill this gap, I employ vertically extendingflat plates 2929 as indicated most clearly in Fig. 4. The Z-bars andplates 29 are then bolted through the end wall and posts 11 by means ofa series of bolts 3080.

In order to better distribute the strains to the superstructure of thecar, I preferably employ achannel 31 extending crosswise oi the car onthe inner face of the end plate 16. Said channel 31 has the ends thereofbent at right angles along the inner faces of the side walls of the caras indicated at 32. Said channel is bolted to the side walls 01 the caras indicated by the bolts 33 and near the corners of the car bolts 8 1are employed passing through the end wall of the car.

also, some of. the bolts passing through the upper tie plate 21 areconnected to the channel 31 as indicated in Fig. At the corners of thecar, 1 preferably employ reinforcing plates as shown in Fig. 2 in orderto obtain a better attachment for the bolts 33 and 3 In this way thecorner structure of the car is very rigidly reinforced and the strainswell distributed to the end and side walls of the car.

In carrying out myinvention, it will be noted that I provide in effect,a rigid rectangular frame comprised of the Zbars 20 and upper and lowertie plates 21. This frame may be fabricated in the shops and applied asa unit to the end wall of the car without modification of the latter andsimply making the necessary holes to ELCCOIIHHOdi the various scuringbolts. The rectangular framework thus provided not only provides greatstrength against end thrusts imp 'l upon the end wall of the car butalso pr 1 vides great strength against spreading or lateral separationof the Z-bars. Furthermore, by employing the interior bracing in theform of the channel 31 at the top, the load is effectively distributedto the entire superstructure of the car thus adding increased strengthto the end wall structure. All of the parts are such as are ordinarilyfound in stock in railroad repair shops and the improvements can be madeat, comparatively small expense to the railroads.

I claim:

1. In a box car having. an end wall comprised of wood sheathingandposts, the combination with commercial shaped reinforo ing beams securedto the outer side of said wall, of upper and lower tie plates rigidlysecured to and connecting the upper and lower ends of said beams, saidtie plates being interposed between the beams and the sheathing.

2. In a box car having an end wall comprised of outer wood sheathing andvertical posts, end plate and end sill, of vertically extending Z-barsalined with the intermediate end posts of the wall, an upper tie platesecured to the upper ends of the Z-bars and disposed between the Z-barsand the sheathing, an inner reinforcing member extending transversely ofthe car and disposed on the inner side of the end plate, the ends ofsaid member being secured to the side walls of the car, securing meanspassing through said tie plate, end plate and member, a tie platerigidly connected to the Z-bars at their lower ends in alinei 1011i withthe end sill, securing means passing through said lower tie plate andend sill, said lower tie plate being also interposed between the Z-barsand the sheathing, and filler plates extending between the upper andlower tie plates and interposed between the Z-bars and the sheathing,said Z-bars and filler plates being additionally, secured to the endwall of the car intermediate the tie plates.

In a box car having an end Wall comprised of outer wood sheathing andvertical posts, a reinforcing structure on the outer side of the endwall, said reinforcing structure comprising, a. pair of parallellyextending commercial shapes, upper and lower tie plates secured to theupper and lower ends respectively of said shapes on the inner sidesthereof, and vertical tiller plates disposed lie-- neath said commercialshapes and extending between said tie plates, said tie plates and fillerplates being interposed between the commercial shapes and the outer faceof the GEORGE JOHNSON.

